Actor-director Mel Gibson was in the Osa Peninsula
last week with his young son. They stayed at Marenco Beach and
Rainforest Lodge and enjoyed the dolphin and whale research tour of
Vida Marina Foundation where he was able to see humpback whales.

Photo by Sierra Goodman

GPS
and tourist map finally come to Costa Rica

By Noel Dekkingof the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Computer and satellite global positioning system technology is now
available to help guide automobile travelers through the winding roads
of Costa Rica.

Smart Ways, a division of Rutas Satelitales G.P.S. S.A. developed a
satellite-guided GPS map that is currently geared towards tourist
travelers. The map has contact points at many of the popular
sights, beaches, resorts, hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, and
other popular tourist locations, said company representative Rudolpho
Vargas-Fournier.

The company's in-car GPS systems provide both voice-prompted directions
as well as a three-dimensional navigation map, depending on
traveler preference. If visitors know their destinations ahead
of time, the company will pre-program the system for the customized
travel routes, said a company report. Additional reference points
include hospitals, police stations, banks, ATMs, service stations and
various landmarks such as schools, museums, churches.

Such devices are now widely used in North America.

Smart Ways began supplying clients with the

systems Dec. 26, and
Vargas-Fournier said that the system has worked
reliably. The company is undergoing a pilot program phase with
125
units available for rent for about $15 a day.

Vargas-Fournier said that the firm's intention is to have online
reservations and fixed pricing available as soon as possible.

The systems are currently available at the company office, which is
located near the Juan Santamaría airport in the Hampton
car-rental
complex, directly
across from the Hotel Hampton Inn & Suites. They are also available
at both Economy and Solid car rentals, located in the same area.

Being the first Costa Rican version of the virtual map, the company's Web site
indicates that not all locations or routes are currently
available.
Smart Ways representative Abbey Vargas-Fournier said that new
locations, roads, and details will be updated
regularly.

Smart Ways' map has been officially licensed by Garmin International
Inc. and the firm is using the 2006 Garmin StreetPilot c310 2006 GPS
system, which is available in 15 languages, according to the company
Web site. Garmin International Inc. is a member of the Garmin
Ltd., a
group of companies that designs, manufactures, and markets navigation
and communications equipment.

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In Costa Rica those who love Christmas can leave their nativity scene
up until Feb. 2, according to Christian tradition.

But first, there is the 12th day of Christmas, which is Saturday this
year. The day also is the Feast of Epiphany in the Christian calendar.
And in the Spanish-speaking world the day is the Día de los
Tres Reyes Magos, known in English as the three wise men.

In some countries such as México and Spain, children are
expecting gifts on this day. Costa Rica does not observe this custom,
but Jan. 6 is observed as the day when the three wise men visited the
Baby Jesus in his crib in Bethlehem.

So Catholic Costa Ricans in tune with the tradition will be placing
figures of the tres reyes magos in their portal scene.
Nearly every home and office has a portal known in English as
the nativity scene or manger scene.

Some Costa Ricans who are not addicted to Christmas will be holding
prayer services in their homes this weekend as a prelude to taking down
the portal and packing it away until next year.

These sessions of rezarle al Niño or praying to the
Christ
child are social events complete with cake and other goodies. The
Rosary may be said. That is why there may be a crowd of cars around a
neighbor's home.

Technically, once the wise men are installed in the portal, the
scene may remain displayed up until Feb. 2, the Dia de la
Candelaria,
the day known as Candlemas in English and the feast day of the
purification under Jewish law of the Virgin Mary and the presentation
of Jesus in the temple.

Traffic cops also injured
in incident where one died

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A
26-year-old man with the last name Romero has been accused of killing
one person and causing serious injuries of two traffic policemen in a
Dec. 31 incident, reported the Poder Judicial. The accident took place
on the Autopista General Cañas near the turnoff to the Colegio
Castella.

The victim, José Luis Pérez Hernández, died
Tuesday, two days after the accident. The Tránsito
officers, with the last names Chavarría Soto and Sánchez,
reportedly suffered considerable injuries, said a police
report.

Romero is currently at the Hospital San Vicente de Paúl in
Heredia. The Juzgado Penal de Heredia ordered a three-month
preventative detention while officials investigate the incident, said a
judicial report.

Our reader's opinion

Did she turn paranoid
or is the threat real?

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

Today, a husband and wife were here in Costa Rica on vacation from the
country of Germany. Except for their two backpacks, their baggage
never got here, but they rented a car and continued on their
vacation.

They got a flat tire and so they stopped at the first safe spot to
change the tire. It was a small piece of land at the entrance of
a cemetery on the way to the popular tourist area of La Fortuna/Volcan
Arenal, (where, by-the-way, I hear there has been a major increase in
camera and laptop robberies).

Two local teenagers happened to be walking by and offered to help them
change the tire. Next thing they know, the two locals were gone,
along with their two backpacks, (which they were sure were in the car
before the two teenagers showed up), and in which was everything they
had: $1,000.00 in cash, $300 in Travelers Checks, a Sony camera, credit
cards, drivers licenses, etc.

They knew no Spanish, and only knew enough English to say it was a
young boy and girl wearing a white T-shirt and a green T-shirt, who
offered to help them change the tire, but somehow walked away before
they knew their backpacks were gone.

The police showed up within about 10 minutes of being called, walked
and drove around the area, and took a report. The phone number
the tourists needed to call the bank to cancel the cards, etc., was
inside the backpacks. Nobody could communicate with them about
much of anything. All I can imagine they could do was to drive
back to the airport or maybe their embassy.

I was myself, robbed by a known criminal a few months ago in front of
hundreds of people in the central market of downtown Ciudad
Quesada. I got my same overwhelming feelings back of that
experience, and I was so overwhelmed with frustration for these
people, I could only lay down and cry for an hour, until I
finally decided to try to help myself by passing this information on to
the world, whoever might read this.

If you are robbed in Costa Rica, know that there is probably zero
chance you will ever see what was stolen again. There is no
"victim's fund," the language is Spanish, likely NO local person
witnessing the robbery at that moment. If there is a witness, the laws
are weighted in favor of the criminal and/or the criminal simply goes
to jail, (if even that, and even then it will take a couple of years
wait due to a large court backlog), then the criminal gets back out,
and then robs again.

Tourists need a back-up plan for any given moment of any possible
contingency while on vacation. Perhaps take their first day of
vacation to go straight to a local bank and open an account and safe
deposit box in which they would put a copy of all necessary documents
in case of a major problem.

Figure out a way to have at least emergency money always somewhere on
your person. Unfortunately, this would make their vacation more
inconvenient, but at least they may have their vacation with some
amount of more security. Or maybe I'm now paranoid. I don't know,
am I?

Donna Norton

Professional
Directory

A.M.
Costa Rica's professional directory
is where business
people who wish to reach the English-speaking community may invite
responses.
If you are interested in being represented here, please contact the
editor.

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Rican
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Four new graduates of the University of Colorado leave today to embark
on a journey through Mexico and Central America on their way to Costa
Rica, and they have made plans to volunteer during much of their trip
at affiliates of Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for Humanity Web builds affordable housing and promotes
homeownership as a means of alleviating poverty. The most
identifiable volunteers are former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his
wife.

The graduates are Alan Goodrich, David Behm, John Bostrom, and Miles
Winder. They met while studying at the university in Boulder, Colorado,
and have budgeted $6,000 of their own money in order to travel to
approximately 10 different locations and help out with housing projects
on their way south.

The group of four have packed their surfboards, Spanish dictionaries,
and a spare tire into their 1992 Subaru Legacy that already has gone
200,000 miles. Goodrich, a 23-year-old political science graduate
from Alta, Wyoming, said that the four needed a car within their very
limited budget that could accommodate all of their surfing gear because
they plan to catch some waves during their free time.

Goodrich came up with the idea during an internship with Habitat for
Humanity, and the others were easily convinced, he said.

Not only are the surfers volunteering their time throughout the next
two months, but they are also trying to raise $75,000 to sponsor a new
home for the Flatirons

University of Colorado News Service
photo

CU-Boulder graduates David Behm, Miles Winder, Alan Goodrich
and John Bostrom start today to travel through Mexico and Central
America to help build homes for Habitat for Humanity and also plan to
surf.

Habitat for Humanity in Boulder. While they have raised a few
thousand
dollars so far, Goodrich said that as people track their travels to
various volunteer locations throughout Central America, they are hoping
that people take the time to donate to Habitat for Humanity via their
Web site.

Their current plan is to arrive in Costa Rica around March 7 and work
for two weeks at Habitat for Humanity or an affiliated
organization.
Goodrich has had some trouble making a connection with the organization
here and hopes to have plans made by the time they arrive, he said.

Updates of their journey as well as information about donating to the
housing project can be found on a Web site at
www.behmca.com/HabitatTrip/

A firm resolution against making New
year's resolutions

The only New Year’s
resolution I make anymore is that I will stay home on New Year’s Eve —
or at the most, spend it with a couple of friends. I started
doing that when years ago in San Francisco I stayed home because I was
avoiding an old boyfriend who might show up at the same party.
During the evening friends kept calling to ask how I was doing (fine)
and declaring that they weren’t having such a great time.

The next day I had no regrets and I felt fine. This year
I
was rewarded at midnight with the view from my living room windows that
face the mountains to the north. Instead of a display of fireworks,
there were pops and it looked as if hundreds of giant fireflies were
appearing and disappearing over the towns on the sides of the
mountains. I half expected Tinkerbell to appear.

And the next day I felt so fine that I was able to use my brain to
solve a long-standing problem: how to peel mangos more easily. I
love mangos, but they are slippery and messy to peel. Holding
them with a paper towel helps, but with my still weak left wrist, even
that is difficult. Monday I discovered that putting a mango in a
cup or (in my case, a left-over plastic glass) with a mouth small
enough so that most of the mango is above it and using a peeler with a
large head makes it is pretty easy. I love discovering better ways to
do things or uses for things that I hang on to for no reason that my
friends can figure out.

With the New Year we used to be able to predict the weather for the
rest of the year by the first 12 days of the January. Thus, since the
first day of Jan. 1 was sunny and warm, January could be expected to
continue sunny and

warm. If it rained on the fifth day, we could expect a
rainy May. But Mavis tells me that this no longer holds. When it
comes
to weather, we are learning that nothing holds true any longer.
It is
just as well, because so far the weather has not been the kind that we
boast about to friends elsewhere. The low 60s is cold here.

What does hold true is that the quiet and tranquility in the streets of
the city are shattered soon after the New Year. Vacations are
over.
People are returning from the beach and soon it will be business as
usual.

My friend Sandy, who, herself, has just returned from the beach, thinks
we should have a people management plan whereby one-fourth of the
josefinos are on vacation throughout the course of the year.
Being on
vacation most of the time myself – except when I am writing this column
or making my chocolate sauce – I feel above criticism in that I have no
car to contribute to either the pollution or traffic.

However, I learned long ago that after pride comes the pratfall, so
instead I am concentrating on using less water and electricity — like
turning off the faucet when I brush my teeth and using the
current-saving new light bulbs — even though those are NOT New Year’s
resolutions.

If
you want customers
six months from now,
you should advertise today!

Two Colombian police officers have been extradited to the United States
on charges of helping to smuggle more than $50 million worth of cocaine
on cargo flights.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Thursday announced the
extradition of Leonidas Molina Triana, a former major in Colombia's
national police, and Humberto Avila, an active patrolman at Bogota's El
Dorado airport.

The indictment alleges that Molina Triana was one of a number of
corrupt officials who helped Colombia's Norte

Authorities say the two men conspired to facilitate cocaine shipments
through the airport to Mexico en route to the United States. If
convicted, they could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a
mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

The United States, however, has assured Colombia it will not seek life
sentences for defendants extradited from the South American country.

State
Department spokesman seems to waffle on Negroponte

By the A.M. Costa Rica staffand wire service reports

The U.S. State Department seemed to be backing away from John
Negroponte Thursday.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack ducked reporters questions
during a Thursday afternoon briefing in Washington and said any
nominations would have to be announced by the White House.

Wednesday the appointment of Negroponte to the No. 2 position in the
State Department appeared to be a done deal. He was reported to have
left his job as national intelligence director.

But McCormack, when pressed, said:

"As I said before, I'm not in a position at this point to confirm any
particular names for you. You mentioned John Negroponte has come up.
Certainly he is a person who is a diplomat's diplomat. He is somebody
of excellent, excellent judgment, long experience both in Washington
and abroad, very well respected among members of the international
community, he knows the international community, is somebody who really
knows how to get things done. So certainly he is quite an accomplished
person and currently doing an excellent job working for the President
as director of national intelligence."

The White House has no information
on any appointment.

The 67-year-old Negroponte interrupted a long diplomatic career
in
April of last year to take the top U.S. intelligence post, a job
created by Congress to address a lack of coordination among the Central
Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department and other agencies with
intelligence functions.

Negroponte, when he was ambassador to Honduras, also was a key player
in the Contra war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and at least a
willing bystander to the Iran Contra affair.

U.S. officials secretly
traded war materiels and aircraft parts to Iran in exchange for funds
that could be used to support the Contras without the knowledge of the
U.S. Congress.

He also served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq in 2004 and 2005.

Any major appointment must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, now
controlled by Democrats. Some delay in the appointment could be caused
by concern that Democrats might dig up bad news on Negroponte during
any hearing.

There also are questions as to why Negroponte would leave the
intelligence post after so short a stay.

Venezuela's
Chávez shuffles his team as date for his inauguration nears

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has replaced his vice president
and justice minister just days before he is inaugurated for a second
term.

Chávez said in a television interview late Wednesday that the
decision to replace Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel was not easy
because he regards Rangel as a "star pitcher," as in a baseball game,
and respects him like a father. In talking about the replacement of
Justice Minister Jesse

Chacón, Chávez alluded
to a recent rise in crime and prison violence in Venezuela.

Psychiatrist and politician Jorge Rodríguez will become
Venezuela's new
vice president, and parliamentary deputy Pedro Carreno will be the new
justice minister. Chávez will be inaugurated for a second
six-year term
Wednesday.

Chávez has said he hopes to merge all the political parties
supporting
him into one party. He also wants to re-write the constitution.

U.S. tennis star Julia Cohen will be in the semi-finals of the Copa de
Cafe tournament at the Costa Rica Country Club today. She
defeated Valeriya Solovieva of Russia, 7-5, 6-3 Thursday to earn
her berth. Miss Cohen is ranked sixth in the world.

Anastasia Pivovarona, the No. 2 seed from Russia, also defeated her
opponent, Chen Astrugo of Israel, 6-0, 1-6, and 6-3.

Miss
Cohen will face Elena Chernyakova of Russia in the semi-finals at
11 a.m. while Miss Pivovarona will face Julia Glushko of Israel.

In the men's division Fernando Romboli of Brazil also advanced to the
semi-finals where he will meet Antonio Comporto of Italy. But there was
no word on the other male semi-finalists because results of Thursday
evening's play were not yet available.

The tournament will conclude Saturday.

Jungleman
marathon in Puerto Viejo will be Jan. 13

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Jungleman marathon and half marathon will step off Jan. 13 and take
runners from Puerto Viejo to the Parque Nacional Cahuita.

The race is tougher than some because the first 13 kilometers of the
21-kilometer route is along sandy beaches of the Caribbean. Runners
also have to cross over Home Creek. Marathon runners will cover the
same ground twice.

Organizers say that as of Thursday
some 150 persons, many of them from foreign countries, have confirmed.
The race also is run under strict environmental conditions, and runners
cannot carry any throw-away items into the protected zones.

Participation fees range from $20 just to run the race to a $299
package that includes hotel stays and transportation from San
José to
the race location. More information is available on the organizers Web
Page.

Sporting Event Needs Assistance

FlagMag.com Flag Football magazine will be hosting an International
Flag Football Tournament, Jan. 26-29th in Santa Ana. Men and
women teams from Canada, U.S.A., Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras and
Panamá will take part. We are seeking host families and
volunteers for the event. Anyone interested, please contact

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